: X-Men: First Class
This was excellent. It has a lot of the heart of the first film, with the whole “mutants as oppressed minority” thing, but this time overshadowed and enhanced by the recent events of WWII and Nazi Germany (the bulk of the film takes place in 1962). Here we learn the history of the X-Men and find out what shaped the characters and why they do what they do. It’s well done, with a terrific cast, and though there’s an awful lot going on, the director does a remarkable job keeping everything from being overwhelming. It’s not perfect — there are a few areas where the editing seemed rushed and an incomplete scene or two will leave you scratching your head a bit — but impressive considering the monumental task. Though I didn’t get every question answered (I’m still confused about a couple of things), for the most part this film did a great job of explaining everything (both for this plot and as a setup for the other films). Visually the film is quite good, though the 1960s era seemed to come and go. When it was obvious, I really liked it, but too much of the time it wasn’t clear we were in the past and when something like a black-and-white TV video came along it was jarring and felt odd. Much of the mutants’ tech felt much too modern (it could have still done the same thing but just looked 1960ish). In terms of the plot, I was really impressed. We follow the origin story of Magneto and his creator/nemesis, while eventually catching up with the other mutants and the forming of Professor X’s school and everyone teaming together to stop the bad guy. I loved the way the plot blended in real history (according to this film, the Cuba missile crisis was caused by the bad guy and it was the mutants who saved us all from nuclear war). The mutants we get to see are all pretty good, though, as usual, not being familiar with the comic series, I found sometimes found their powers confusing. (I’m still baffled by Emma Frost. I didn’t understand her character’s abilities at all. She seemed super-powerful in her first battle, but then she’s tamed remarkably easily later. I didn’t figure out that she can turn into a diamond suit until after I read something later. The special effects of that diamond form were really poor.) I also thought some of the mutant scenes seemed forced, as in, “We need another special effect here to make this look cool so have a mutant do something.” What I liked much better were the stories of the characters. Understanding their motivations was fascinating, especially knowing that in the future several of these mutants will become enemies. I thought Raven/Mystique’s character could have used a more elaboration — she’s in a lot of scenes but most of those don’t really help us understand her. But the bottom line is I was thoroughly entertained. I found the story thought-provoking, the performances above average, and the plot was compelling. Two thumbs up. The best X-Men so far by a wide margin (though I am saying that as someone who isn’t a reader of the comics so there could be flaws I didn’t notice).
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